


Shadow-Self

by IgotItAtTheHotTopical



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood and Torture, Bottom Tony Stark, Comfort/Angst, Dark Stephen Strange, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt Tony Stark, IronStrange, M/M, Protective Stephen Strange, Psychological Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:15:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28651881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IgotItAtTheHotTopical/pseuds/IgotItAtTheHotTopical
Summary: Just another Dark Au Stephen Strange story.
Relationships: Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Shadow-Self

**Author's Note:**

> Haven’t published anything new for all my IronStrange lovers out there, so here’s some tea for y’all ♥️✨
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> Also this was created for the amazing @Ririsasy on Tumblr & Instagram 💕
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The moment the billionaire stepped through the double doors of the Sanctum, everything felt off. Everything felt still, quiet and even the air felt extremely tense. Tony wanted to call out in the building, but didn't want to alert anyone or anything that was in the building, so the billionaire quietly and slowly walked through the halls. He checked the second floor first, just in case nobody was hiding upstairs and then decided to check the rooms from downstairs, meaning the library, some other rooms that Tony had found not too long while being bored and wondering around, and finally checking the Sorcerers bedroom. Meaning Wongs and obviously Stephens. The only reason why Tony was even at the Sanctum was because Wong had rang him in the middle of the night, waking the billionaire from his sleep—which he still struggles to do— but once he heard the panic and desperate voice from the Sorcerer, that made Tony jump out of his bed and into his suit. Tony grabbed his sweater from the ground and grabbed random sneakers before double tapping his chest and being covered in his nanotech in less than a few seconds.

As Tony quietly scanned each room, he was only getting more anxious when he couldn't find no one, not even Stephens magical cape. _Sorry Cloak_. Tony corrects himself with a smile when he always mocks the Sorcerer, but that soon vanishes when he hears movement coming down the hall and knowing to well it's coming from the library. After a while of visiting both Sorcerers and getting to know the Sanctum, Tony had no problem with making his way around the entire building and always having a proud grin when he sees Stephen rolling his eyes when he finds him in different parts of the Sanctum. Deep down Stephen honestly could careless if Tony wonders around the building, and he could careless if he sometimes finds him observing certain artifacts—unless he's sees the mechanic touching things then that's when he removes Tony away from whatever stupidity he's about to do.

As Tony walked towards the library, with one hand clenched to his side and the other ready to double tap his reactor, Tony slowly makes his way down the hall and couldn't help but take small glances through opened doors. He still had to make sure nobody is hiding in a room, and he was t going to lie that he was slightly scared, but like always he pushed down that feeling and continued to walk down the hall because he wasn't going to run away from whatever noise is happening, and he wasn't for sure going to leave both Sorcerers alone when he didn't even know where they were or if they are okay. As much as Tony always gets both Sorcerers annoyed or as much Stephen gets under his own skin, Tony will never leave them alone and deep down Tony knows he'll never want anything to happen to Stephen, as well with Wong. After the whole snap they were going to go their separate ways but Tony never had the intentions of leaving them off to fight their own magical creatures, so one sunny day later Tony was knocking on their door with a shit eating grin and a bottle of champagne on his hand. Stephen just rolled his eyes at the man in front of him and didn't have a choice to close the door at him since the Cloak gave him a slap at the back of his head before unhooking itself and pushing its master out of the way to let the billionaire in the building.

Ever since the fight, the Cloak has drastically changed around the billionaire. It honestly surprised the Sorcerer when he saw his relic wrapping itself around the shorter man one day and would always be around him whenever he paid them a visit, at first the cloaks actions wouldn't stop surprising Stephen, but he eventually got use to being traded by Tony and in all honesty Stephen would always have a smile forming on his face whenever he'll see Tony happily walking around the Sanctum with the cloak attached to his shoulders. No matter how stubborn Stephen can be, the Sorcerer will never be able to overpower the feelings he gets in his chest whenever he sees the billionaire or whenever he sees the man smiling at any little thing. Stephen knows how he feels towards Tony, and he knows how Tony feels towards him, but Stephen understands Tony's lack of believing in his feelings because he knows Tony does not want to get hurt. Again.

Walking through the library, Tony glances around and sees no type of movement, but then feels his blood draining when he sees Wong lying on the ground. With quick steps, Tony drops on his knees and places two fingers under the mans jaw and steadies himself.

_Thump..Thump..Thump_.

Tony breathes in relief when he feels a pulse, and glances around the room to find anything to place under the mans head. Reaching towards a book not too far, Tony gently places it under Wong's head, but something catches his eye again and only felt his heart dropping to his stomach when he sees Stephen chained to the wall. Even Cloak was trapped between its masters back and the wall, not being able to free itself and made of use. After making sure Wong was okay, Tony quickly runs towards the other Sorcerer and observes his entire form for any injuries, but only sees a perfect cut on his left eyebrow with blood running down his cheek. Doing the same thing with Wong, Tony places two fingers under the mans jaw and feels relief wash over him when he too has a pulse.

"Strange?" Tony says as he softly shakes the Sorcerer with his hands either side of his face, "Strange!"

Tony begins to lightly slap the mans face, hoping he'll wake up with the contact but knowing too well the man is deeply unconscious due to him not responding to the light slaps on his face. Seeing how the Sorcerer isn't waking up, Tony brings his eyes down to the chains that are tightly wrapped around his front torso, making his arms pinned to either side of his body. With a grunt Tony tries to pull the metal chains from the Sorcerer, but only groaning when they are tightly locked on the body. Thinking the rattling chains made the man come back to reality makes Tony look up, but only sees him with closed eyes still.

"Handsome am I right?" Tony quickly turns around to the voice but only meets darkness instead before seeing a tall lean figure hovering above him,

**————————**

_"That won't work Stark,"_

_"Sure it will who do you think your talking too?" Tony says with an offended face,_

_"A man who has been rebuilding the same gadget for more than an hour," Stephen fires back as he places his hands on his hips,_

_Tony grins, ignoring the mans comment and points a proud finger at him, "Time is beauty,"_

_Stephen just rolls his eyes and leans against the desk beside him as he watches the mechanic fiddle with the hologram in front of him, and couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle when he sees the mechanics tongue poking out of his mouth as he tries to concentrate on whatever he's building. Technically, Stephen knew what he was building, he was building new gadgets for the teenager with climbing powers. Peter, was what Stephen remembers hearing Tony calling him._

_"Alright!" Tony claps his hands together making Stephen come back to reality, "she's ready,"_

_"Sure about that?"_

_"E-yup, I readjusted it's power so no more blowups," Tony says as he grabs the small gadget and places it on his hand,_

_Stephen stays in his position and crosses his arms in front of him as he watches Tony walk towards him. How exactly did he get stuck in the garage with Tony? Stephen honestly doesn't remember, but he has been assisting the mechanic with variety of things and actually having a great time doing so. Even if he won't admit it to the billionaire._

_"Alright, lets fire her up," Tony begins as he stands besides Stephen,_

_"Just don't **actually** fire her up," Stephen adds with a serious tone,_

_Tony gives him a bitch face, "Just record will ya?"_

_With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Stephen levitates the mechanics camera and watches as the man starts to count down._

_"Five..four.. three.. two.. one," Tony throws the small gadget in the air and quickly presses the button on his phone, making heavy amounts of web shoot throughout the whole garage,_

_Tony laughs proudly as he sees his invention successfully working. He knew it was ready, just a couple more tweets and it would work the way it should have, and Tony couldn't feel more excited to add this into Peter's suit. Ever since the snap, Tony has been making all kinds of new upgrades in the teens suit and making sure it's more secure than the previous suits he's made._

_Looking around at the whole garage, Tony feels prouder when he sees web stuck up on the ceiling and even sees how a few of his other inventions are glued on the walls. Including Dum-E. However, Tony feels his smile going wider and lets out a small chuckle when he sees a few pieces of web all over the Sorcerers head and face. Tony didn't mean to laugh, but the way Stephen was staring at him with annoyed eyes and his arms crossed together made Tony burst._

_"Doc you've got a little...," Tony pauses and looks back at the mess, "A lot of something on your face,"_

_Stephen squints at him, "Really? Didn't notice,"_

_Tony chuckles one last time and sees how the Sorcerer runs a hand through his hair to shake off whatever webbing he has stuck between his locks. Tony is only able to stare with admiration as the Sorcerer runs his scarred fingers through that dark, soft hair and only feeling his heart beating faster when he sees how beautiful Stephen looks with all kinds of webs covering his face and hair. Tony then feels his pulse racing when he sees how messy the Sorcerers hair becomes after running his fingers through it so many times, and if Tony wasn't such a whimp to accept his feelings, he would have pushed his own lips against those heart shaped ones and showing Stephen just how much he makes him go crazy, but of course Tony still has a bit of trust issues and he doesn't want to feel his heart shattering once again._

_After watching the man remove the web from his hair, Tony instantly brought his hand towards the soft particle and removes a piece of web from the Sorcerers face, making blue orbs look up to meet his whiskey ones. They stayed staring at each other for more than a few seconds, minutes even. No words, just pure eye contact that only they could understand and only they'll ever understand. Then the sound of robotic whimpering makes both men break their staring contest, Stephen clears his throat to make it less awkward and Tony only backs away from the Sorcerers space before turning towards the noise. He shakes off whatever just happened with a chuckle when he sees Dum-E trying to free himself from the wall, as he makes his way towards his robotic pet, Stephen stays put in his position and continues to remove whatever web was left on him._

_As he reaches towards the hard substance of web, Tony begins to cut through it to free his small friend, but as he was cutting something lands on his arm. It was dark red and wet. With furrowed brows Tony lets his finger touch the unknown liquid and sees how it smears on his skin, he than notices it's blood, but where did it come from? Was he bleeding? With quick hands Tony reaches for his nose, but doesn't feel any liquid, that's until he feels something rolling down his cheek and making him have an enormous pain washing over his entire head. With fear rising in his chest, Tony lets his digits touch the liquid running down and feels his chest tightening when he sees more red all over his digits, something was wrong, something was not right but what was it? Tony was only getting more nervous, no, he was getting scared at what he is witnessing. However before he can try and think about what the hall is happening, the sound of humming is heard around him and only getting louder._

_He recognizes that voice, he recognizes that song, but he can't seem to place his finger on it. The pain gets stronger, the humming gets louder, his chest begins to hammer harder against his chest making his stomach do all kinds of spins and making his mouth go dry. What the hell is happening? Am I having a severe anxiety attack again? He hasn't had one ever since the snap, so is it coming back to haunt him? Tony wasn't able to think more rational thoughts after everything went black and the sound of humming was still active and only getting louder by each second. The last thing Tony remembers thinking about was one name._

_Stephen._

**————**

Tony slowly starts to stir in his sleep, well more like coming back from his unconsciousness and slowly opening his eyes, even though doing that makes his head pound even more than it has ever pounded. He wants to open his eyes fully, but something heavy won't let him, then after a few tries of doing so he notices why. The annoying bright light from the small gap of the window is piercing right through the curtain and aiming directly at the mans face. Tony makes his muscles move from his arm to block the bright light, but the rattle of chains and something tight around his wrist stops him. With blurry and hooded eyes Tony looks up to his arm, but isn't able to focus his vision and drops his head completely when exhaustion washes over him and his head only pounds harder.

"Oh great he's awake thing... one," That voice sounds all too familiar and Tony felt relief when he hears it,

Looking up once again, Tony sees with a still blurry vision, Stephen standing in front of him with dark clothes. Dark long sleeve, with black jeans and boots on his feet, but something was different, something wasn't right and Tony couldn't help the feeling of a bad shiver roll down his spine. Feeling his head pounding even more, Tony reaches to touch his aching head but again, can't seem to do it. Looking back to his hand he now sees why he can't move his hand, it was cuffed to a bar, not only was his left hand cuffed, but so was his right hand. Both hands were tightly cuffed to the bar, and Tony was only feeling that familiar feeling getting stronger.

"Strange?" Tony manages to say through a raspy voice, "W-What's going on?"

"I would tell you but.. I would rather want to see you use your knowledge," Stephen grins once he finishes his sentence,

Tony furrowed his brows. _My knowledge?_ Tony thinks to himself and was only getting more irritated as well as with that familiar feeling of panic rising and getting stronger in his chest. Why did he want him to use his knowledge? Jesus he can be an asshole. Tony thinks once again and only looks back to the man in front of him, only to see him smirking back at him.

"I'll give you a hint," Stephen says and slowly starts to move to the side,

Tony lets his eyes land on the person sitting on a chair with chains wrapped around him. His head hanged low and seemed to be unconscious, then the feeling of panic finally broke free from its cage and Tony soon understood what was happening. Maybe not everything, but he damn well knew the man standing in front of him with the shit eating smirk was definitely not Stephen.

"Your not him," Tony says with a raspy tone and looks at the clone of Strange,

"Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!" The clone yells as he has a wide smile plastered on his face,

Tony glares at the man in front of him but quickly looks back at the original Stephen who is still unconscious on the chair and having his head hang low. Tony also notices how blood is dripping from his face, making Tony angrier and only doing his best to free his hands, but grits his teeth when the cuffs scrape against his skin.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," The clone speaks while he observes the mechanic with admiration,

Tony stops with a tired huff but still keeps his hard eyes when he stares at the clone. Tony becomes more aware of his presence when he sees him walking towards him and seeing how he has his arms crossed in front of him, as well with a smirk plastered on his face. The clone gets close enough to Tony's space and lightly bends down and tilts his face as he observes the mans face.

"I got you good huh?" Tony furrowed his brows until he notices something warm sliding on the side of his head and feeling his eye throbbing with pain,

He couldn't see it, but he knew he most likely had a open wound under his eye and mentally groaning when he knows that will be a bitch to heal. Tony watches as the clone gives him a smirk, making chills runs down his body and oddly enough making his knees want to give out from that weakening smirk. The clone turns to his left and grabs something from the table before walking towards the billionaires space. He reaches out towards his face and Tony only moves away with furrowed brows, but lets out a grunt when the clone roughly grabs a hold of his jaw and forces him to stare into his eyes as he starts to gently wipe the blood off his face. Tony was forced to stare into those breath taking eyes of his while the clone gently wiped the blood from his brow.

He wasn't going to lie when he thought this side of Stephen is kinda arousing and oddly sexier. Not that Tony would prefer him to turn evil, but everyone has got their opinions and... kinks. Tony didn't have much a choice but to stare into those cold ice blue eyes of his, and for a split second Tony had totally forgotten that this was Stephen. This wasn't his Stephen. Wait.. my Stephen?

As the clone was busy wiping off the blood the sound of low groaning is heard from behind them. Tony furrowed his brows but the clone only smirks as he lets go of the billionaires jaw and turns around to see the Sorcerer stirring from his unconsciousness. Tony felt relief wash over his entire body when the Sorcerer was waking up, he didn't know if he can last another minute with the annoying clone of his.

"Strange?" Tony says with a cracked voice and tugs at the cuffs around his wrist, but only grunts when they scrape against his skin,

The clone made his way towards Stephen with the most predatory look on his face and Tony didn't hesitate not once when he tried kicking him on the back. He didn't reach far enough and all he got was a good punch to the gut, making all the air from his stomach to fly out of his mouth. Tony coughed and tried sucking in breaths, but before he can even try and gather his breathing again. A hand is clamped around his throat and with all the force from the clone, he pins him against the bed springs as he gets in his entire space. The hand around his throat was only becoming tighter and tighter, and Tony's face was slowly becoming red as he struggled for air.

"Don't. Do that. Again," The clone says with a raised brow and only tightens his hold on the billionaires throat,

"Let him go," Another shaky broken voice settles behind them,

The clone only sighs and rolls his eyes, "Give me a sec," he smiles at Tony before removing his firm grip on the mans throat and turns around as Tony begins coughing and gasping for air,

As Tony tried reaching for air he saw how Stephen was staring at him before bringing his eyes back to the clone.

"Don't interrupt its rude," The clone speaks with satisfaction in his voice and only crosses his arms in front of him,

Stephen only glares at his replica and repeats himself with a hard tone, "Let. Him go,"

"Why? I like him," Stephens eyes become harder and anger rises in his veins,

The clone sees how Stephen truly feels at the moment and he knows how he truly feels about the billionaire, he even knows how Tony feels as well and he couldn't help but finding it amusing.

"Wh-What do you want from me?" Tony manages to say through soft wheezes,

That punch he received to the gut sure did knock out the wind from him and made it hard for him to inhale. It felt like his throat was going to close, like his lungs had been sucked dry from air and Tony was slowly starting to have an anxiety attack, but once he made eye contact with the Sorcerer he began to control himself. Now wasn't the time to have a anxiety attack in front of a evil clone who will most likely hurt or kill them.

"Everything," The clone gives Tony a hard stern look, one that sends shivers down the billionaires spine,

Tony pulls on his restraints and kept trying to free himself as the clone smirked at him. Thinking that he'll walk over here and do god knows what, Tony was mentally getting prepared, but then he saw him walking towards the Sorcerer. Tony pulled harder on his cuffs, wincing when they were slowly cutting his skin and having blood slowly trickling down his wrist and inside his sleeve. Whatever the clone had in mind was something the billionaire didn't want to see or happen, so if he's gonna bleed out from trying to get free and save Stephen, then so be it. As Tony struggled to get free, Stephen kept his blue orbs on the clone that was making his way over with hard eyes. He stands in front of him and sighs before speaking with a smirk.

"Lets have some fun," Without any other words the clone walks around until he stands behind Stephens chair and begin dragging him out of the room,

"Say bye," The clone sings as he starts slowly starts to pull the Sorcerer out of the room,

Tony was grunting and groaning as the cuffs were only digging into his skin, but the sound of something moving makes him look at Stephen. He was seeing how the Sorcerer was trying to free himself as well by shaking the chains as he was being dragged away by the clone. Fear rose and Tony felt helpless as he was cuffed to the bar and could do nothing but watch.

"Strange?" Tony finds himself saying and locks eyes with angry grey orbs,

Stephen doesn't say anything to him, except for clenching his jaw and nodding his head at him as if saying everything will be okay. Memories washed Tony's head like a hurricane. Memories of Titan when he gave up the stone and memories when they were battling Thanos once again. He still remembers that day clear as day, he remembers struggling to crawl to his knees and looks up to meet Stephen. He stays on his knees when he sees the Sorcerer give him a raised finger and he knew what it meant, he only had one chance to end the whole war but it came with great cost and Tony still remembers how he felt that day and every time he thinks about it, he always ends up binge drinking until he blacks out.

However, just as Tony grabbed onto the gauntlet from Thanos, Thor flies with his axe in the air and cleanly aims from the Titans head. It was honestly a gruesome death and something that had Tony scarred, but hey, they at least won right?

Tony kept his eyes on the spot where the Sorcerer once was and quickly went back to pulling at his strains. He groaned at the pain but kept pulling until he was freed, but then a painful yell is heard throughout the room making Tony haul his movements for a split second before feeling anger washing over him and adrenaline running in his veins. The billionaire pulled harder and screamed from pain and frustration when the cuff wouldn't bulge, only his skin was becoming more raw and blood was rolling down his arms. Tony screamed once more as he shook his hands, making the cuffs rattle against the bar and feeling tears rolling down his cheeks when he kept hearing Stephens loud screams through the opened door. He could only imagine what's going on in the other room and that was only making Tony more helpless and useless at the moment. His energy was quickly running out due to him slowly losing blood and having his arms cuffed to the bar, he fought the urge of closing his eyes but the exhaustion was only getting stronger and stronger to ignore.

He also wouldn't be able to close his eyes due to hearing another painful cry every five minutes. Hearing the Sorcerer cry in pain only brought ache to the billionaires chest and he wanted nothing more than to help him, save him from whatever torture he's going through, but Tony was growing tired the longer he stayed standing and the blood slowly coming out from his wrist wasn't making it better. A few minutes past and Tony realized the screaming stopped, everything was still and quiet. Everything seemed peaceful, peaceful enough to shut his eyes for a few seconds. Tony finally lets his head hang low and still fought the urge to keep his eyes awake, hoping someone will come through the door and help him, or hoping Stephen would burst through the door, but no one did and Tony finally closed his eyes. Maybe he'll see Stephen.

Unfortunately it felt as if he had his eyes closed for only a few seconds before hearing someone calling his name and feeling something hitting his cheek. Tony groaned as he tried sleeping but then he heard that familiar voice calling his name again he tried his best to open his heavy eyes.

"Tony.. come on wake up," Stephen lightly slaps his cheek until he sees two confused whiskey eyes staring at him,

"Stephen?" The Sorcerer smiles,

"Happy to see me?" If Tony had the energy he would have rolled his eyes, but he still manages to have a small smile on his lips,

Stephen smirks as he reaches towards the billionaires hands and carefully undoes the cuffs by using a simple spell. Stephen quickly catches Tony as soon as the cuffs are off and as soon as the billionaire lands on the floor. Tony felt like his arms were made out of jello after having them raised for who knows how long and even grunts when the Sorcerer places and arm around his neck, but he also winces when he touches his right side of his ribs. Fortunately Tony had realized the clone didn't really aim for his gut, instead he made contact with his ribs and knowing right away it's broken by the pain that spreads through his entire side.

"Come on love," Stephen says as he begins to walk with Tony limply by his side,

"What about Wong?" Tony says without breath and winces when the Sorcerers hold on his side was gripping harder to keep him up on his feet,

"He's fine.. he's taking care of it," Stephen grunts as he tries his hardest to keep Tony off his own weight and feels himself panting as he carries him,

They both walk down the room, but something felt extremely off. Why wasn't Stephen helping Wong? Why was he only wearing his robes? Where was the annoying carpet? Everything was feeling wrong and the more the billionaire walks the more his side was hurting and the more he felt the room spinning. He was about to vomit, pass out, maybe both if he doesn't take a breather. However, the words from the Sorcerer made Tony more confused and feeling the heavy feeling growing on his chest.

"Wait, Wait," Stephen stops and looks down at the billionaire with furrowed brows,

Tony leans a hand on a nearby table to catch his breath. Then he remembers what the Sorcerer called him, and Tony slowly looked up at the man next to him.

"Did you just call me.. love?" The man furrows his brows,

"Uhh.. n-no?"

Tony lets out a shaky breath as he glares at the man, "Your _not_ Stephen,"

Stephen.. well the clone sighs from frustration, "Your good," He says while gently lifting the billionaires arm from his neck and lets him lean against the table,

Tony backs away from him but never let his eyes move away from his form. Tony still wasn't strong enough to stand on his own feet, so he leaned against the table as he spoke to the clone.

"Where is he?"

The clone rolls his eyes, "Don't worry he's alive,"

Tony leans more into the table but lets his eyes land on the door that was opened. He thought about the outcomes of escaping, if he tries to leave will the clone hurt him? Kill him? If he runs he knows he'll just fall flat on his face, if he distracts him with small talk he'll catch up and probably hurt him, if Tony threw him something and then leave he will most likely kill him. However, would he kill him? Even if he did give Tony a sickening punch to the ribs would he be that cruel to kill him?

_'Oh please, pull yourself together Stark! He'll do anything to feel satisfied'_

Tony was growing impatient with his low energy and was slowly starting to feel that familiar panic rising in his chest. Again.

"You two really haven't gone to that stage yet?" Tony brings his eyes to the clone who was looking at him with such confusion,

"What?" Tony asks harshly,

The clone only waves his hand in the air, "You know that stage, with the pet names,"

Before Tony can snark back or even laugh at the ridiculous words, he sees how the clone gets blasted by a orange weird like shape, making him land hard on the floor. Turning towards the door he sees Stephen standing with blood trickling down the side of his temple and a opened gash on his lower lip. He looked like hell, but deep down Tony found it attractive as hell. Both the Sorcerer and billionaire lock eyes. Observing one another to see if they are okay before Stephen turns back to the clone who was laughing as he got back up from the floor. Tony would also be in a fighting stance, but his energy was still out and all he could do was lean against the table. However, he did manage to go around the table until he was close enough for the Sorcerer, where Stephen gently pulled him by his elbow and placed him behind himself. Stephen shield him from the clone and Tony couldn't help feeling his heart beating as he saw the Sorcerer standing protectively in front of him.

Before Tony knew, both the clone and Stephen were going at it. He saw how both Stephens would get thrown on the floor like a rag doll, would see them get punched multiple times. Whenever he thought he saw the Stephen get thrown on the floor Tony tried stepping in, but the Sorcerer gave him a stern look and continued fighting back. Tony wasn't one to get benched, but right now he can barely stand on his own feet and the only he is able to do at the moment is stare until one of the males wins. Eventually Tony grew more nervous and more impatient that he decided to find the other Sorcerer. He stumbled a bit as he walked down the hall, he screamed Wongs name but he wouldn't get any answers and Tony was only getting more anxious. After what seemed like forever he finally found the beaten Sorcerer in the library, where he was looking down at a book and trying to prepare a bowl at the same time.

"Wong! Finally I've been callin-,"

"I know," Wong grumbles his words and only closes his eyes as he mumbles something,

Not a second later he opens them and reaches inside the bowl, pulling out a small dagger with glowing enochain letters on the handle. Without any other word, Wong hands him the dagger and Tony only glances at it before bringing confused eyes back to the Sorcerer.

"What am I supposed to do with this? Stab Dracula?," Wong rolls his eyes,

"You'll know which one is him," With that Wong grabs the billionaires arm and drags him as he quickly walks back towards the room where both males are still fighting,

The entire room was a mess, tables destroyed, chairs broken, papers scattered throughout the room and shattered glass was on the floor. Both males were on the floor, one was on top of the other while trying to throw heavy punches to the other one beneath him. Tony looks over to Wong but he already saw him bolting towards the two men and tackling one of them to the ground. Tony did his best to run towards the commotion, but once he was in the middle with three men separated Tony realized how much they were identical to each other. They were both so alike that it made Tony's job a thousand times harder, how was he supposed to dagger one of them without killing the actual Sorcerer? Tony kept looking back and forth to both clones, feeling his anxiety rising as he didn't know what to do.

"What are you waiting for? He's right there!" One of them yells and points to the other clone,

"Nice try asshole," The other Stephen says and looks at him with hard eyes, "Tony, don't believe him,"

"Wong?" Tony didn't know what to do, he was on the verge of having a full on panic attack from the pressure, "How do I know?"

Wong stares at both clones and finally looks at Tony with worried eyes as well, "You don't,"

The billionaire gives him a 'are you serious right now!' Look, but the Sorcerer ignores him and keeps his eyes on both clones, trying to figure which one is exactly Stephen. It was harder than it looks, both of them had everything almost similar, eyes, face, hair, clothes, and most importantly they both hand scarred hands.

"Tony, who saved you in Titan?" One of them starts to speak,

"Yeah I did dickhead," Tony heart was becoming faster,

One of the clones sighs in frustration but takes small steps with his hands in a surrender motion and speaks in a calm tone.

"Tony, I'm the one who's been there for you whenever you have an episode," Tony brings his eyes to the clone who was slowly making his way,

Wong on the other hand glares at both clones while having his relic ready for anything.

"Bullshit! Everything I know he knows," The other Stephen speaks,

Tony brought his focus on him, but a hand on his shoulder makes him look up, instantly locking eyes with amazing grey orbs.

"Tony... I never said it because I didn't want to get too attach. I didn't want you get hurt because of me.. but I love you," The hand on his shoulder was now on his face,

Tony stared in pure shock, but then let out a smile along with a nod before turning around to look at the other Sorcerer. The other Sorcerer was staring at them with pure disbelief and was begging to Wong and Tony, begging for Tony to give him a chance to prove. Tony only stood closer towards the Sorcerer, Wong on the other hand was still in the middle trying to figure which one was actually Stephen before Tony made any other decision.

"Sorry Doc... but no hard feelings," He stares with wide eyes but then lets out a gasp when he sees Tony plunging the dagger in the other mans chest,

Wong looks over at the billionaire where he has both hands on the dagger and stares with wide eyes and a shocked expression. The clone screams in pain, but less than a second he dusted off into the air, making Tony drop the dagger on the floor with shaken hands. Wong stares at the dagger on the floor and Stephen stares at Tony with a shocking expression, he honestly thought Tony wasn't going to believe him and would eventually end up killing him, but thankfully he didn't and wasn't. Tony looks up and looks at both Sorcerers who are now staring at him with raised eyebrows, Tony brings his eyes towards Wong and shrugs with a small smirk.

"Piece a cake right?" Wong gives him his famous bitch face and Stephen only scoffs in disbelief but also in relief,

Tony smirks at both Sorcerers, not really caring about his enormous pain throughout his body at the moment, seeing Stephens smile was quickly making him feel better and Tony couldn't help but feel less tense when he knows both Sorcerers are okay.

After helping Tony towards the medical room of the Sanctum, Wong excused himself to start cleaning and Stephen only nodded his head as he begins to look for a medical kit. Tony sat on the bed while gently removing his sweater and would give winces when his right side would send pain throughout his side, Stephen quickly catches his face expression and gently gives him a hand with the black sweater. Once it was off, Stephen begins to patch the billionaires side with soft movements, making sure to not hurt him more. Tony tried his hardest to not make any discomfort as pressure was applied on his bruised ribs, but thankfully that ended and Stephen was now grabbing cotton, and Tony watched as scarred/ shaking hands carefully applied alcohol on it.

"Ready?" The Sorcerer asks as he has the cotton a few inches away from the billionaires opened wound,

Tony eyes the cotton and inhaled before nodding his head. Stephen begins to move the cotton close to the wound just underneath his eye and gently touches it, causing the billionaire to hiss and slightly move his head away. Stephen gives him a few seconds to cope with the burn and then applies it once more on his wound. Tony closes his eyes as he jerks his head away again, however this time he lets a hand grip the Sorcerers wrist while he applies aid on him. The Sorcerer hauls his movements for a second when he feels a hand around his wrist, he glances down but smiles when he sees Tony griping it for comfort and Stephen deeply did not mind.

As Stephen applied first aid on the billionaire, he couldn't help but get lost into his own thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about the incident that happened not too long ago, and he couldn't seem to get rid of the question that's been riding in his head ever since Tony stabbed the clone. How did he know? Or did he take an extreme lucky guess? Or did he simply make a blind decision like any other day? Question after question was popping in the Sorcerers head and he wanted to know all the answers, but he didn't know them because they had to come from Tony. So as Stephen gently tapped the cotton on the billionaires wound, Stephen finally spoke his question.

"How did you know?" Tony opens his eyes at the question and instantly meets his eyes,

In all honesty Tony would have spoke right there and then, but after being cuffed to a bed for who knows how long he couldn't find the energy anymore. So instead of talking, he lets his eyes land on the Sorcerers hand and gently grabs it in his own. Stephen furrows his brows when the billionaire grabs his hand but somewhat knows what he is referring to.

"They were identical," Stephen begins when the billionaire kept his gaze down to his hand,

Tony softly shakes his head and finally brings his whiskey eyes towards the Sorcerers.

" _His_ didn't shake," Tony speaks in a whisper, as if he's not so sure if he should say it, but Stephen heard loud and clear,

For some reason Stephen would have felt embarrassed, but he didn't. Instead, he felt warmth spreading throughout his chest and feeling happiness grow as well because Tony knew how his hands were. He knew how much they shake. Actually, Tony knows a lot more about Stephen that the Sorcerer didn't know he knew. For instance, Tony knows when Stephen is in a bad mood, he knows when not to and when to make a dumb joke. He knows what the Sorcerer likes in his tea, knows what's his favorite food from the Deli, surprisingly he even found out what was his favorite color— Stephen doesn't know about that one— and a lot more things that Stephen didn't know Tony noticed, and it was same thing with Stephen. Throughout the months they've spent together, both stubborn men have grown with each other and continue to grow.

Yes, there are times where they have days when they feel like ripping each other's skins off, or fighting over who should go inside the war zone, or who's turn was it to become partners with Steve. Things like that still happen.... and will continue to happen, but they honestly don't care because that's the way they are. Both men might be stubborn with each other, but that doesn't mean they don't like each other. Stephen knew how he felt towards the billionaire, and Tony did know how he felt towards the Sorcerer, but neither of them said anything. Why? They were both scared to reveal to each other, fearing one would get hurt and leave, while the other one just didn't want to hurt the other one.

"Didn't think you noticed the little things," Stephen says without breaking eye contact,

"I know a lot of things," Stephen didn't know what to say to that but he did remove his hand from the billionaires hold and walked away to clean the mess of plastic,

Stephen needed to remove himself and keep some distance from them, or else he'll do something he know isn't a good idea. He didn't want to start something knowing it will backfire on them both and he also didn't want Tony to get hurt. Stephen knows he can be a dick with just small words, he has experience to prove to anyone who asks. Tony watched as the Sorcerer moved away from him and began cleaning, having his back towards the billionaire. Tony knew why he moved and he didn't feel hurt because of it, he knew what was Stephens fear. However, Tony was done hiding away and was done running away from his feelings. He was tired of seeing Stephen flirt with girls whenever they had a small party at the tower, he was tired of his games and he wanted him now. Tony carefully hops off the bed and slowly makes his way towards the Sorcerer.

Stephen was still placing a few things back into the aid kit when he felt a hand on his hip. His whole body freezes at the touch, and then he feels the hand forcing him to turn around. When he did he instantly locked eyes with Tony. They stayed staring until Tony lets a hand gently land on his cheek and lets it get tangled with the Sorcerers hair. Stephen felt more tensed when he felt the hand in his hair, he was about to pull away and tell Tony it wasn't a good idea, but when he felt the hand on his neck forcing him to bend down Stephen quickly spoke to stop him.

"Tony..,"

"I don't want to run anymore," Tony says but continues, "I don't want _us_ to run anymore,"

Stephen wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but he still knew it was a bad idea because he didn't want to hurt him. He didn't want to disappoint him and then make Tony leave him with pure regret. However, before Stephen can made a decision about removing Tony's hand from his hair, a pair of lips latch on his own. It was soft and gentle, Stephen furrowed his brows at the kiss, trying not to give in, but when Tony pulled away to look into his eyes everything that Stephen ever thought about disappeared into thin air. Without any other hesitation, Stephen bends down to connect their lips again. It wasn't fast or rough, it was slow and gentle, their lips colliding with each other, Tony's hand pulling at the Sorcerers strands at the back of his head, making him groan in the kiss and Stephens hands were on either side of the billionaires hips.

They finally cherished each other by giving loving kisses and holding each other as if one would leave. But neither of them planned on leaving, neither of them didn't know how tough the road would be for them, but if Tony was willing to give them a try.. then Stephen was damn sure he was going to give it his all. After kissing for quite some time, Stephen breaks the kiss to catch a breather. They both breathe in pants but they never pulled away. They finally revealed to each other, and they never wanted to let go, unless Stephen decided for them. However, Stephen was also tired of running away from his feelings and all he wanted was Tony the moment he first saw him. Even if he still has the crushing fear at the back of his head.

"If this doesn't work," Stephen says with a shake of his head but Tony grips his hair to stop him,

"I trust you," That's all Tony needed to say for Stephen to dive back down to his lips,

That night they patched each other, kisses each other, made love to each other and finally went to sleep together. Tony was fast asleep with his bare chest rising up and down in a peaceful manner and Stephen couldn't take his eyes off of him. He never did, not until it was almost going to be dawn then that's when Stephen finally closed his eyes. Once Stephen drifted away, Tony woke up. He was facing the Sorcerer and when he opened his eyes, he couldn't help the smile that spreads on his face when he sees the Sorcerer asleep with the sun hitting his face, making his entire feature more beautiful under the suns light. Tony knew it was going to be hard for them, but who ever said he was going to give up that easily?

**Author's Note:**

> Love y’all thank you so much for the love and support! ✨  
> Make sure to leave a Kudos and a comment!! 💙♥️


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